An Absence of Terra Firma
by Awdures
Summary: Three times Team Sonic over-reached themselves and had to be bailed out by one another. Hold tight and don't look down!
1. Racing Gravity

None of them had really trusted the bridge. Wood and rope, swaying wildly in the stiff wind, and strung high over a deep, broad fold in the land - too steep to be properly called a valley, but grassed all the way down. Not a rocky crevasse but definitely a dangerous ravine.

None of them had trusted it but they'd all been confident of crossing it. Sonic running effortlessly on the swaying, twisting deck, shifting his balance with every step. Knuckles gliding, a hand on Sonic's shoulder, riding in his slipstream. Tails flying watchfully above and behind them, hand already half outstretched, just in case.

And they were right not to trust it because let go it did and with them still yards from the end. Sonic leapt for the edge and landed in a roll, Knuckles just missed it.

Tails was still airborne and Sonic after a glance back at him was more concerned about Knuckles who had hit the side of the ravine fists first and dug in but met grassy earth instead of solid rock and was sliding rapidly out of reach, clawing for a grip.

"Tails, a little help!" Sonic yelled but was drowned out by a a shrill, ear-splitting whine. He and Knuckles both froze for a second from the sheer startle factor, so unexpected all the way out here. Sonic looked up eyes seeking for Tails first, the source of the blast second.

Tails was still several yards out over the ravine, having dodged perhaps and now Sonic registered what they'd been too focussed on the state of the bridge to look at before. The unnaturally new clean, lines of the stone pillars supporting this end of the bridge. Now sporting a laser lens apiece and swivelling to take aim again.

"Tails!" Sonic yelled but this time the fox wasn't quite quick enough and the blast sent him spinning with a shriek of his own. Tumbling, falling.

"No!" Sonic yelled, already running by time the shout left his mouth. He flung himself over the curve of the ravine, which was steep, so steep he was barely keeping contact with it, wasn't 100% sure if this was still running not falling, not flailing, but it wasn't sheer, not quite, and if he could run the loops of Green Hill he could run this and he wasn't prepared to even give a moment's headroom to the notion that he couldn't, that Tails was unreachable, lost, fallen.

Somewhere above and behind him, Knuckles was swearing a blue streak having presumably lost his own grip, but he could glide and Tails wasn't flying which meant he couldn't, which meant...

Sonic cut himself off and ran. No thought for that. That wasn't an option. He thought only of the contact of his sneakers with the ground, for as long as there was contact he could still do this, could outrun even gravity, could outrun thought and fear. He listened to the wind and the slap of his feet against the slippery ground and nothing else.

He looked up, across the ravine, and there was Tails, curled into a horrified cringe of a ball, not even screaming now. That panicked posture might make this bit easier but there were seconds and he wasn't even really sure it would work. He ran on, no longer looking where he was going, not looking at the upcoming valley floor, looking only at Tails, at the angle, at what he needed to do.

Lower, there were seconds, fewer seconds...

Sonic jumped, threw everything he had into converting his downwards momentum, redirecting it, shedding speed and energy. He cannoned into Tails, sending the both of them spinning wildly before they hammered into the boggy ground. Mud and water and reedy grass flew in all directions.

It took him a moment to realise he'd stopped moving. His head was still reeling but he was sitting upright, past his waist in a muddy furrow slowly turning into a puddle. Tails half on, half off his lap and clinging to him for all he was worth.

"Tails," Sonic said. "Are you okay?"

Tails nodded into his shoulder, breathing in huge sobbing gasps, but didn't let go. Sonic didn't try to make him. Truth be told he felt in distinct need of a hug and a moment to catch his breath as well. He wrapped his arms around Tails and squeezed back.

"It's okay," he said. "I gotcha."

"I know." Tails' voice was very small, muffled against Sonic's fur but he slackened his grip by a fraction. "Where's Knuckles?"

Sonic looked up. "Coming now."

The echidna's gliding descent was erratic and Sonic frowned. Was he injured after all? The wind rattled his own quills and damp as they were both he and Tails shivered. It was the wind giving Knuckles difficulties then? Whipping up the valley, curling over the top, updraughts and downdraughts. As Sonic watched a gust caught him and he had to kick away from the side, dropping several yards before steadying.

He landed on hands and knees and half ran, half limped over to them. He was wide-eyed and tense.

"I tried to come after you. The wind..." He shook his head. "I thought I was going to find the pair of you down here-"

"It's okay," Sonic said, cutting him off and trying to get back to his feet but hampered by Tails still wrapped arms and legs around him. "We're okay."

Knuckles got an arm under his shoulder and pulled them both up without apparent effort. He squeezed his eyes shut a moment and when he opened then his expression was more composed.

"Good."


	2. Fails at Wing Walking

They'd thought they'd got them all. Knuckles had just slid back into his seat and Sonic was still standing on the wing, just turning to grin back at him and Tails, sooty, but gleeful with their success. Tails didn't look up, focussed on nursing the damaged, unsteady aircraft through the air.

And that was when the one they hadn't quite finished off hit Sonic in the back of the head. Possibly it wasn't even deliberate, the thing was trailing smoke, clearly damaged, but it didn't matter. He pitched head over heads, past Knuckles, past the fuselage and down.

Knuckles grabbed for him, missed, but missed closely enough to see the shock in his face, hear him yell in real fear as he fell, hear Tails shout a moment later.

But that wail was already behind him because almost before he'd even made a conscious decision he was back out of his seat and diving over the side. Behind him he heard the engine note of the Tornado change as Tails also pushed over into a dive, but it was drowned out by the roar of the wind in his ears.

He knew what Tails would try, he'd done it before, he could fly accurately enough to catch a falling hedgehog, but he knew it was futile effort this time, the control surfaces holed and distorted in several places, the aircraft had been on the limit of controllable even straight and level.

A moment later the sound died away completely, Tails pulling up, admitting what he'd probably already known.

Knuckles had no further thought to spare for Tails, needed all his concentration to maintain his body position in the air. Spines flat against himself, arms back, feet tightly together, body rigid and more than three quarters of the way to the vertical, controlling his direction with the slightest of movements and still accelerating.

He'd be falling faster than Sonic even if the hedgehog was tumbling. Quite a lot faster if he'd refrained from panic and had the sense to increase his own body drag as much as he could.

Knuckles was falling faster, but he couldn't see Sonic. Couldn't see him yet and he wasn't sure he dared move his head to look further afield for fear of disrupting his own barely controlled fall. Seconds dragged like minutes, had he missed him?

But no, he was there, a blue speck, and then more than a speck, and not spinning, not tumbling. Stretched out, spread-eagled in the air. The very fact he'd bothered to do so saying everything there was to say about last ditch hope, and hanging on to the utter last chance.

Knuckles adjusted his position fractionally, edged closer. How long had they been falling, how far, how high had they started? There were still clouds below them but closing, closing and they'd have seconds below that.

Split seconds if he fumbled it now.

He collided with the hedgehog hard enough to knock the breath from both of them. He heard the strangled woof of air leaving the hedgehog's body and he knew how he felt because was choking, suffocating, himself. He hung on grimly, arms around Sonic's chest, his legs hooked around Sonic's. Holding on was, for a moment, more important than breathing. He felt Sonic's hands close around his wrists, and forced himself to drag air into his lungs.

He flared his spines, catching the racing, howling air and the deceleration was so abrupt he felt something wrench, a shooting, lancing pain from his neck down his back. He gasped again, but holding his position in the air was more important than working out what he'd injured and he held on.

Sonic was doing his best not to make it harder, braced and motionless, resisting what would have been a very natural urge to clutch and grab at him.

Nevertheless, it wasn't easy to either carry or steer for two and the landing, even broken by a stand of thick bracken Knuckles had swerved towards at the last moment, was rough.

For a few moments neither of them moved. Then Sonic squirmed and Knuckles realised he was still sprawled across him.

"You're heavier than you look, Knux," Sonic said. It sounded like normal Sonic snark, except the hedgehog's voice was shaking.

The words, 'so are you' crossed Knuckles' mind but he didn't have the energy to say them and just forced himself over onto his back to let Sonic up.

"You all right?" Sonic asked after another moment or two had passed.

Knuckles grunted by way of reply. The truth was that every muscle from his neck to his tail felt like it had been set on fire. He opened his eyes, squinting into the blue sky. The Tornado circled down overhead, clearly Tails had seen them and was looking for somewhere to land.

Then Sonic's face hove into view.

"Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

There was concern in his voice but the shakiness was mostly gone.

"I'll live," Knuckles allowed. "You can get out of my face."

"Oh thanks!" Sonic withdrew, bristling indignantly but almost immediately leaned back in, smoothing back the spines on his head in an awkward, embarrassed way. "Uh, I mean _really_ thanks, sorry. Thanks." An abrupt, visible shudder ran through him and he drew a deep breath. "I'd have been hedgehog jam."

He whistled a phrase of a tune Knuckles didn't know, and giggled rather hysterically. Knuckles wondered if the fall had knocked him silly but he sobered quickly and said quietly, " Thank you. I really absolutely mean it."

Knuckles considered pointing out that Sonic was thanking him for something he'd had actually been more reflex than actual decision-making but decided against it, and in token of accepting the offered 'thank you' allowed Sonic to help him up when he stuck out his hand. This rather went against his better judgement since the hedgehog was prone to apply more vigour than really needed and he really deeply wanted to move slowly for a while.

Sonic was careful though and Knuckles stood cautiously, with his help, then stretched even more cautiously.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah?" Sonic's tone was comically eager to please in his gratitude. Knuckles wondered how long it would last.

"Next time, watch where you're going."

Sonic glanced sideways at him.

"Meh. I'll think about it."

And that answered that question with, 'not long enough' Knuckles reflected wryly.

He snorted, and together they limped over to where Tails was just touching down, wreathed in a relieved smile.


	3. Don't Look Down

Tails cleared the top of the towering framework of pipes, flew a length or so higher so that Sonic's dangling feet also cleared it and moved over to lower him down and land himself. They were still standing on pipework - albeit a pipe so big that the curve of it was barely perceptible beneath their feet, although the slight slipperiness warned caution was needed.

Tails caught his breath and stretched while Sonic leaned over the edge where Knuckles was ascending behind them.

"We're waiting," Sonic called, grinning, and prompting Knuckles to take a half-hearted swing at his ankles as he cleared the top and pulled himself up.

Tails ignored the scuffle, looking around to orient himself. They were about as high as it was possible to get. The complex pipework and gantries and cabling running out of eye-shot in every direction. And all to supply... something they hadn't worked out yet. Something that was housed in the menacing looking black metal tower still hundreds of yards away. That had been so impenetrable from the ground that they'd been driven to this scrambling approach through the pipework.

Lethally high off the ground if you missed your footing, his tails had been twitching the whole time they'd been traversing it, so that it was an outright relief to fly instead. Knuckles was unperturbed, as comfortable at height or in the air as he was on the ground. And as for Sonic - he made Tails nervous. Not because he seemed likely to fall but because he seemed completely oblivious to the possibility, running and jumping as though the drop didn't even exist.

Tails shadowed him, never more than an arms length away if he could help it. Ready to catch.

And so it was towards Sonic he darted when the bot hurtled from a concealed hatch, and making the three of them scatter. Darted with arms outstretched, but Sonic had already leapt aside, already landed, with perfect poise not even teetering as his toe came down on the uttermost edge of the framework, heel hanging over the drop but already dropping into a crouch, hand lashing out to catch a steel cable running the length and steady himself.

He crouched and Tails hovered and after a moment of mental stock-taking, both their heads whipped round because there was no one else in sight.

Knuckles had gone over, too suddenly to even yell.

They sped to where he'd been and Sonic pointed. "There!"

Tails could barely look because gliding or no, it would only take the wrong kind of injury from the bot or a collision and that would be that.

But there was relief as well as alarm in Sonic's voice and so Tails followed where he pointed, to where Knuckles was neither falling, nor gliding but was tangled in the grasp of the bot and a hundred foot out from the nearest gantry.

The thing was tentacled, articulated, clawed and it had him by the neck and head, tangled round spines and clinging. It sprayed sparks and listed, swaying ever downwards. Knuckles must had damaged it before it grabbed him which was good, but he wasn't struggling now which was bad.

Tails glanced at Sonic for reassurance because Knuckles dangled beneath the bot at such a frightening gallows angle, and saw him gauging the distance, preparing to leap at the bot, even in the absence of a plan for getting back.

He thought there was a chance then. Tails pulled himself together.

"I can get him," he said. "Easier if I don't have to get you both."

Sonic nodded, waved him forward and even in the moment Tails was proud of that.

He launched himself out and dropped on the bot with both feet from above.

It ignored him. Really damaged then, aloft still on bare automatics.

"Knuckles!' The bot was sinking faster now with both their weight on it, and how knew how long the power would last?

There was no response and he didn't have time or the nerve to wonder if that was because Knuckles was unconscious or worse. He tore open a panel, scanning, searching, there'd be some cut-off, some fail-safe in case it locked hold of something it shouldn't. Some way to make it let go.

There was a bang and the thing spun giddily for a moment before falling in earnest, but he had it now and a reconnected wire and the last of the power for a shut-down signal and it let go.

Tails hurled himself sideways, kicking the thing away and snatching at Knuckles' wrist as it dropped him. He hung on with both hands and slowed them, tails lashing the air. Looking back at the structure he could see Sonic dashing from spot to spot, keeping level with them, but there was no way to land, it was obstructed and cluttered and vertical all the way down. Perhaps if he got close enough Sonic could haul Knuckles in. He was still limp. Dead weight - no, wrong phrase, don't even think it - but his head lolled back and he dangled closed-eyed beneath him.

A piercing whistle from Sonic and Tails looked round again. Had he found a landing spot?

He had started to head in to check when Knuckles abruptly woke up. He jerked violently, almost wrenching himself loose from Tails' grip before registering where he was and grabbing wildly at Tails' arm with his free hand, pulling him sideways in the air.

Tails grunted, fought for balance, and Knuckles slacked his grip at once. His mouth moved, as he looked up but nothing emerged. Still at least he wasn't struggling any more.

Tails headed to Sonic, who had indeed found enough of a ledge that Tails' could swing Knuckles in to him and squeeze onto it to land himself.

Knuckles subsided onto his knees, made one abortive attempt to get up and sagged back down, leaning against the framework. His breathing was noisy and he only coughed and put his hand to his throat in response to Sonic's, 'You okay?"

He reached out to Tails instead, grasped his forearm and gave him a nod, looking him straight in a the eye and, against against all expectation, smiling at him

Which was, Tails reflected, probably more of a response than he'd have got if he _had_ been able to say 'thank you' out loud.


End file.
